China is home to one of the oldest civilizations in the world. While people in many parts of the world were still running from their own shadows, people there were busy developing tools and infrastructure. So, it comes as no surprise that the country is full of ancient traditions some of which live on to this day.

The traditions themselves, however, can be quite surprising as seen above. This practice is known as Huǒ liáo and involves lighting the patient on fire to provide soothing relief for whatever ails them. We saw this before when we came across a photo of a woman getting her eyes lit on fire, but let’s learn a little more about this old art.

Men and women have been known to do some extreme things in the name of health and beauty. Spas and salons around the world have attempted to sell all types of tonics and creams to relax muscles and make skin smoother for generations, but none of them can even come close to the beauty treatment depicted in a photo posted to Chinese message board tt.mop late last week.

Along with the caption, “My mom went to get her face done at the beauty salon so I went with her. What I saw… instantly shocked me… I couldn’t look,” this photo blew our minds. Although the daughter claims that she wasn’t able to look, she was seemingly able to take a pretty clear picture for us all to see.

This type of treatment is actually not as unique as you might think. Called Huǒ liáo (fire treatment) it is a widely practiced form of alternative therapy. Nevertheless it’s still pretty terrifying to look at.Read More